For John Deken, history teacher, and David Choate, language arts teacher, the school year doesn’t end in May. Deken is an Advanced Placement (AP) World History Exam supervisor and Choate grades AP Literature and Composition exams.

The application process for acceptance into grading exams involves submitting an AP syllabus, a resume and answering a variety of questions; all orchestrated through Educational Testing Service (EST). Choate sent in his application in August and received word of his acceptance in January. For the week of June 8-15 in Louisville, KY, grading papers will consume Choate’s time.

“I imagine it will be taxing, but rewarding,” Choate said.

For Choate, the incentive to grade AP exams is to better his teaching skills.

“I want to make sure that the process is actually fair and also it makes me a better teacher–actually [grading AP exams] will make my kid’s scores more accurate,” Choate said.

Not only will Choate be getting paid for his services, but he will also be improving his professional accountability.

For the future, Choate plans on grading AP exams for years to come and if the opportunity arises, he would consider being an AP grading supervisor, much like Deken.

Deken’s job consists of developing the scoring guide for the AP World History exam, as well as training graders on how to grade effectively. Supervisors take the generic scoring guide and tweak it to relate to that year’s essays.

“It’s my job to help train them in how to score that particular essay that year and put them on standard with the rubric.” It is a supervisor’s responsibility to make sure readers are following the scoring guide.

In order to become a supervisor, Deken had to be a grader first. Deken enjoys being a supervisor more because of the added responsibility as well as the extra teaching aspect.

“Being a supervisor means that I get to design lessons and teach with adults who are interested, engaged and care about what they’re doing,” Deken said.

Before being sent to the convention center for grading, all AP World History exams are shipped off to Princeton for the multiple choice section to be scored. Then, they are sent to Salt Lake City, UT, for the essays to be assessed and graded.

“The supervisor and leadership team go two to four days early and then there’s a full week of work for everybody,” Deken said. Supervisors not only train and prepare the rubric but they grade as well.

Both Choate and Deken are excited for the summer work ahead of them.

Though grading might be exhausting, the benefit of taking time out of summer to grade AP exams is to improve teaching skills as well as broaden experience.